Chapter Three : Looking For The Human Magician CONTINUED

"Oh my, I must be hearing things. I mean, Princess Christianne wants her sweetheart and herself to lost all her powers?" a female's voice was heard sneering behind Christie, causing Christie to jumped in surprise. "And since when Princess Christianne becomes so jumpy?"

Christie turned back to face the new stranger in her house. She was a beauty of Christie's age with long, pink hair tied elegantly into a ponytail. She wore a black tube top and a black mini skirt complete with black boots, which shows her excellent figure perfectly.

"And you are... ?" Christie asked. I must change Lorqueil and myself into normal human beings, she thought furiously. All these strangers that pop out of nowhere! They are disturbing my life.

"Ah, yes. I forgot to introduce myself. I am Nox, one of the Devil Protector of The Evil Empire."

"And why are you here for?" Christie asked curtly. She didn't even bother to be polite. She was so exhausted by all these sudden events that were happening and these strange people she was meeting.

"Lorqueil sent me here," she heaved a sigh as she, like Mirage, played with the lighter. "Hadn't Lorqueil told you about me?"

"No," Christie shook her head. "He didn't have the chance to tell me anything, in fact. Mirage was hurt."

"Mirage was hurt? Lorqueil didn't told me anything about that," she replied, now having fun with the stove. "Anyway, Mirage was too impulsive for his own good. I mean, his powers with wind was pretty cool, but too bad he couldn't exercise his powers. Well, let's get back to topic. Lorqueil sent me here to guard you. He was afraid that The Grim Reaper might be back for you."

"Where is Lorqueil now?" Christie asked as she ate her cereal. All these strangers made it hard for her to finish her breakfast.

"Lorqueil and Mirage are with Hwekra the Healer at Lost Castle of Hidden Evils. I suggested that place to them-thought it would be safe since it had been long forgotten, even by the residents of The Evil Empire. Only a few Devil Protector and the royalty of The Evil Empire knew of it."

"I see," Christie replied. "Umm... Nox?"

"Hmm?" Nox answered absent-mindedly as she played with the piano. She seemed to be impressed with the sounds produced by the piano.

"I was wondering... Can you tell me more about you... and Lorqueil? "

"Yeah, sure," Nox nodded as a greedy grin suddenly spread across her face. "Um... if you'll let me have this wonderful instrument... " She looked longingly at the piano.

Maybe she could lead me to a human magician or something, Christie thought hopefully. This piano was expensive... but I guess it's worth it.

"Of course you can have it," Christie said generously with a smile. "Well, then... Can you tell me more about yourself and Lorqueil?"

"Lorqueil is the only prince of Vampire Kingdom. His parents have high hopes on him, want him to be a good king, want him to be the best vampire, want him to learn the best attacking skills, want him to be the most charming vampire and all. Maybe it's down in Lorqueil's personality or maybe he received too much stress from his parents, he ended up hating his identity as a vampire. However, he is a very smart vampire. He did learned to fight very well. He graduated as a First Honor Student of Attack And Defense Faculty at Vamp Academy when he was fourteen and he had won countless duels in The Vampire Kingdom and The Evil Empire. He even won The Grandest Archery Competition. It was a competition where the best fighter from The Vampire Kingdom, The Evil Empire and Hell takes turn to perform their best archery trick. Lorqueil won by managing to shoot a yellow bat's left eye among a hundred bats from a hundred miles away at his first attempt. He was only fifteen when he won that competition. Even better, his good looks and excellent manners charmed female vampires of all ages. However, he was not overwhelmed at his achievements the way his parents did, for he hates his identity very much. Until he met you. Can you remember how the two of you met?"

Christie nodded. They met at the United Magical Costume Party. She went as a vampire and he went as a grim reaper. He had asked her for a dance and they were attracted by each other's mannerism until they revealed their true identity to each other, which usually most people wouldn't do at the United Magical Costume Party. After that, even though they discovered that they were from totally different worlds, they still couldn't help but to fall for each other.

"He often said that you gave him will to live," Nox continued. "Anyway, your love affairs become a hot topic in both Vampire Kingdom and The Kingdom on the Cloud. People always say that it's such a waste that you two will fall in love, for King Vampire was very upset about it and had warned Lorqueil that he'll never be the king unless he breaks up with you. Your father said something like that to you too."

"Yes, I remember that part," Christie mumbled. "And I remember things that happened afterwards, too. About how he came up with the plan to hide me in human world and so on. I guess enough about Lorqueil. How about you?"

"Me?" Nox asked as she played the piano. It sounded like a very fast version of Beethoven's Spring. Christie was really amazed at how fast she familiarized herself with the piano. "I was an orphan-not a magical orphan but one that belongs to the human world. I wasn't born with any magical power. And until now, I still don't know who my parents are. Lorqueil saw me one day when he visited the human world and since then, he took good care of me. He taught me to attack and defense without hiding any techniques. He even helped me learn magic as a human being. I was very grateful of what he did to me and I will always obey him. The only problem is, I found myself starting to like him like other girls, too."

Third Party! Christie thought, alarmed.

"You... still like him? Still going after him?" Christie asked quietly.

Nox smiled bitterly. "It would be a miracle if I can stop liking a great guy like him. Yes, I still like him and sometimes I thought, won't it be better if the one he likes is me instead of you? At least we both belong to the evil. But he had taught me to control my emotions and jealousy. He is too nice to be a vampire, really. So, don't worry, I won't try to sabotage your love. I won't want Lorqueil to have his heart broken. But if you show any sign of giving up on this love, I will be glad to substitute you. You were saying that you want to be a mere human being, if I wasn't mistaken? I can help you out there. I am a human magician. A human being who can perform magic."

"You can?" Christie asked, unable to believe what she just heard. Hour ago she was having a headache for not knowing where to search for a human magician, and now a human magician simply was right in front her, offering her help? This sounded too good to be true.

"Yep, but nothing is perfect. I can make both you and Lorqueil lost your powers but at the same time, you both will lost all your memories. Lorqueil will not remember you anymore. Nor will you. You can continue you life as a high school student without any memory of Lorqueil or the magical world," Nox explained. "And maybe I could then charm him a little... and we might fall in love. That sounds like a good ending for all of us," a dreamy expression spread over her face as she said these.

"Forget Lorqueil? I don't know..." Christie didn't like the sound of it at all. Nonetheless, it sounded tempting to be able to return to her normal life.

Well, as I expected, when something is too good to be true, it probably is, Christie thought dully.

"Oh ya, I forgot to tell you," Nox said suddenly. "Even if you both forgot your identities, it's impossible for me to make every single soul in the magical worlds to forget about you two. I can't guarantee that they won't continue to disturb you, and chances are they might make you remember about your identity again. Also, since I've learned magic from Lorqueil, it is possible that he'll one day overcome my curse and regain his memories and powers again."

Then it's obvious that I'm going to stay as I am now, since there are possibility that I will continue to be disturbed, Christie thought helplessly. I guess I better accept the truth as it is, and prepare myself for the adventures I'm going to face.

"I guess you'll choose to stay as Princess Christianne, isn't it?" Nox smiled weakly, playing a sad song with the piano. She had mastered the piano so well by now that she can play anything she wanted. Truly talented. "It's impossible that you'll choose to let me perform magic on you since things might turn out to be the same at last anyway. In that case, I guess I just have to hide my jealousy and help you out as Lorqueil would've wanted me to."

Not knowing what else to say, Christie smiled encouragingly to Nox.

"Oh yeah, how would you like to have some cereal? You must be hungry," Christie offered as she poured Nox a bowl of cereal. "These things are made of wheat, I don't know if you had tried them before," she added in explanation.

"I want a bowl, too. Starving like mad," a voice appeared from the back of the girls which both of them soon recognized that the voice belonged to Lorqueil.

"Yeah, and it sure is boring to drink blood all the time right, buddy? Make me one bowl too, Christie," it was Mirage's voice this time.

Christie looked out of the window. The night had fallen. Lorqueil had kept his promise well-he did return at the night-not a minute earlier nor later.